Main Line Art Center in Haverford will again have its Holiday Fine Art Sale this year. The sale features 50 local artists and will run for 10 days from November 30 to December 9. Two Ardmore artists will be selling their artwork.

Sharon Bartmann, a teacher at Main Line Art Center and a ceramic artist, will be selling “everything from pinch pots to large platters and teapots.” Sharon started her 14-year career in ceramics after working as an art director and graphic designer for 20 years. Her goal with her ceramic art is “to inspire, connect and bring a smile to the face of my customers.”

Ceramic Art by Sharon Bartmann

She says her work has been called “whimsical yet sophisticated.” Customers who admire and buy her work range from 20 years old to 80 years old, but the common thread is that they “all have a positive view of life and embrace the theory of wabi-sabi,” a Japanese philosophy that “sees[s] beauty in imperfections and forces you to look at life and your surroundings from a different vantage point.”

Ceramic bowl by Sharon Bartmann

Bartmann counts nature, motherhood, and her role as a teacher as inspirations for her work. She credits her father, who worked as an urban planner, architect, and landscape architect, with giving her creativity. Her father is now in “semi-retirement…working as a wood carver and selling his work.”

After growing up an hour and a half outside of Philly, “in a blue-collar town with a real work ethic,” Bartmann settled in Ardmore almost 19 years ago. The main draw was its close location to Philadelphia and the Lower Merion School District for her three daughters. After making the move to Ardmore, she was “pleasantly surprised that the small pocket where I live is very urban-minded and diverse [with]…an amazing range of professional and creative people who are open-minded and embrace the arts.”

Bartmann’s perfect day in Ardmore starts with a walk on the Haverford College nature trail. She describes Ardmore as “a small slice of the city tucked into the beauty of the Main Line.”

Shelly Rabuse will also be selling her one-of-a-kind jewelry, created from vintage pieces, at the art sale. With over 80 pieces available for sale, customers can find earrings, rings made from vintage earrings and buttons, and leather bands among her handcrafted items.

Jewelry by Shelly Rabuse

Rabuse started creating jewelry ten years ago as “a creative hobby [to get] away from my computer where I spend a lot of time as a graphic designer.” After one of her design clients sold some of Rabuse’s pieces in her store, Rabuse was encouraged to continue. Because her jewelry is made from vintage pieces, she doesn’t have a “fixed vision” for her jewelry; instead, “the vintage piece dictates the final design.”

Jewelry by Shelly Rabuse

She finds vintage pieces, usually at thrift stores and flea markets, that she can break up to create something new and unique. Her favorite thing about making jewelry is “when someone returns to my tent or jewelry show and tells me that they wear one of my pieces all the time.” Her work appeals to a wide range of ages. Young women frequently like her silk cord necklaces, and older women often like her chunky beaded necklaces.

Originally from Ambler and Blue Bell, Rabuse moved to Narberth after college and never left the Main Line. She moved to Ardmore in 2002, after finding the house she and her husband eventually bought when she made a wrong turn trying to find a garage sale.

Her perfect Ardmore day starts with a walk to Suburban Square for a Starbucks, a stop at the Paper Source and Free People stores, a great day of [jewelry] sales at Clover Market, and an end of the day beer along with the “fabulous bread” at Tired Hands Brewery.

Rabuse describes Ardmore “as the best of the Main Line without any pretension or attitude. We have great small businesses, a very nice shopping mall, good restaurants, historic homes, reasonable taxes, and some of the best schools in the country. Who could ask for anything more?”